From the very first page, I felt connected to the character of Alex Harris. A quirky, feisty thirty-something woman with a special fondness for M & Ms and Winston Churchill quotes, she had me laughing throughout this murder mystery. Now who doesn’t love a murder mystery with humor?
She and her sister Sam run a temp agency called Always Prepared, in the small town of Indian Cove, Connecticut, and one of their jobs is at a local mannequin factory. The excitement in this book started early on when Alex goes to assist at the factory, and just before leaving one night, she stumbles upon a dead body: Elvira Scott, the administrative assistant. Because one of the detectives questions Alex, among others, and seems to suspect her for some reason, she decides she has to find out who committed the murder for her own self-protection.
A good part of the fun in Armed (An Alex Harris Mystery) was following Alex’s antics as she goes up one blind alley after another, questioning people who work at the factory and putting clues together. As Detective Van der Burg tries to discourage her sleuthing, he also seems more and more attracted to her as time goes by, just as she is in him.
Will a romantic pairing come together? What was Elvira Scott suspicious about in her final days, and what do some strange printouts have to do with anything? How significant is a cryptic note left in Elvira’s kitchen? And what is the one thing that niggles at Alex, even as she thinks she has put everything together?
I enjoyed Alex’s special connections with family members, like the grandmother she calls Meme, and the big family get-togethers with Italian overtones. I wanted to be a part of this wonderfully gregarious family…and loved the family moments almost as much as the mystery. I am hoping this is the first book in a series so I can live through these characters again. Five stars.
Nice – another good, fun mystery! Thanks for sharing the review.
I really enjoyed this one, Martha E. Thanks for stopping by.